Trump hails suc­cess but loses the House

GAINS FOR DEMO­CRATIC PARTY

DON­ALD TRUMP took a buoy­ant view of midterm elec­tions that saw his Repub­li­cans lose con­trol of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

His party kept con­trol of the Se­nate and won some key state gov­er­nor races, en­abling the pres­i­dent to put a pos­i­tive gloss on the re­sults.

“Tremen­dous suc­cess tonight. Thank you to all!” Mr Trump tweeted late on Tues­day af­ter stay­ing quiet for most of elec­tion night.

Mr Trump also called House Demo­cratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a con­ver­sa­tion that her of­fice said in­cluded con­grat­u­la­tions and a nod to her pitch for bi­par­ti­san­ship.

He later en­dorsed the idea of her be­ing cho­sen by the Demo- crats as the Speaker of the House, which would put her sec­ond in line to pres­i­dency af­ter vice pres­i­dent Mike Pence.

The new Demo­cratic House ma­jor­ity will end the Repub­li­can Party’s dom­i­nance in Wash­ing­ton for the fi­nal two years of Mr Trump’s first term, with ma­jor ques­tions loom­ing about health care, im­mi­gra­tion and gov­ern­ment spend­ing.

The pres­i­dent’s party will main­tain con­trol of the ex­ec­u­tive and ju­di­cial branches of the gov­ern­ment, but Democrats sud­denly have a foothold that gives them sub­poena power to probe deep into Mr Trump’s per­sonal and pro­fes­sional mis­steps and his long­with­held tax re­turns.

Nancy Pelosi smiles as she is cheered by a crowd of Demo­cratic sup­port­ers